Adventurers aim for record books with ocean row

TWO Scots adventurers are to attempt to row across the most dangerous ocean in the world and enter the record books by completing the feat for the first time ever.

TWO Scots adventurers are to attempt to row across the most dangerous ocean in the world and enter the record books by completing the feat for the first time ever.

Leven Brown, 41, from the Scottish Borders and widely considered to be the most experienced ocean rower on the planet, will be joined by Jamie Douglas-Hamilton, from North Berwick, when he skippers the seven-strong crew on their journey across the Indian Ocean, from Oceania to Africa.

They plan to row in two-hour intervals for the entirety of the unsupported voyage which, if successful, will see them travel for 5000 nautical miles for between 80 and 100 days. It would be the longest non-stop row ever completed by any team. They expect to face waves of up to 80ft after setting off from Geraldton, Australia on May 10 for Durban, South Africa. Mr Douglas-Hamilton is following in the adventurous footsteps of his grandfather, Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and commander of 602 City of Glasgow squadron, who was one of two Scots pilots who were the first to fly over the summit of Mount Everest in 1933.

The 32-year-old, who is hoping to raise £50,000 for Save the Elephants, said: "What you're doing is slowly starving yourself as you're burning 10,000 calories a day. It's a permanent state of exhaustion for the whole way. It'll take everything out of us. But it's one of the last world firsts left."

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